The tot and I decided to make rayguns to match our ballgowns–because a lady’s raygun says a lot about her. We, well, I, was going for something Steampunkian, but you could go Spaceranger, Futuristic, Fantasy, or what have you and just change out the colors (and sparkles).
I started with a little mini Nerf gun. It’s about 6 inches long and was about $3. For the tot I bought a package of $1 space-age looking squirtguns.We were going for tiny, dainty rayguns, but this can be done with the big Nurf guns or Supersoakers.
Since it is a formal raygun, and orange clashes with my ballgown, the first thing I did was paint the whole thing with gold acrylic paint and take off the black hook. I obsessed a lot over painting it. I think I may have over-painted parts of it trying to make it perfect. The tot slathered hers with hot pink paint, going more for a fantasy look than a Steampunk look.
I painted it with another coat, mostly trying to cover the raised writing, which didn’t work very well. I probably should have waited until the first coat dried completely, but I got impatient. Next, I added accents with metallic golden-brown paint. I also painted the foam bullets which didn’t turn out to be that good of an idea, especially since by painting it, the gun became unusable anyway. The tot added turquoise accents to hers.
After that, I added a couple of coats of clear varnish to both guns to keep the paint from chipping.
I decided our rayguns needed a little something extra. Since my clockhand tiara has pearls on it, I decided to buy some self-adhesive pearls. I added another coat of varnish to help keep the pearls on. For the tot, we used stick-on clear rhinestone hearts. You may wish to add gears, studs, or even clockhands…
So, there it is, rayguns fit for a princess. Now, I just need to figure out how to affix it to my wrist.
Nerf mod 101:
– Sand off the logos and other raised writing before you start painting.
– Rub ‘n Buff (http://www.bigceramicstore.com/supplies/nonfiredcoatings/RubnBuff.htm), easily found at your local craft store, is the steampunker’s friend. A little goes a really, really long way.